The Berhinger Crawford Museum kicked off it’s Summer Concert Series in April with “Wine ‘n Spring” and May featured “Bourbon and Brass”.  June 10th brings “Beer n’ Brass” featuring the Mt. Auburn Brass Fellowship and specialty beers.  Beginning June 17th the concerts are weekly through July.  Seating is outdoors weather permitting and moved indoors if necessary.  The cost is family friendly at $5 for adults and $3 for children (3-12) and includes access to the museum, coffee from Reality Tuesday cafe, drinks from Trauth Dairy and snacks from the Madison Event Center.

You are welcome to bring your own chairs and/or a picnic dinner.  A cash bar is available for adult drinks and members get a drink ticket with admission.  Concerts begin at 7pm and end at 9pm, doors open at 6pm.  The Behringer-Crawford Museum is located in Devou Park at 1600 Montague Rd.  This is a local museum attraction I am looking forward to visiting this summer and an evening concert with a picnic seems like just the right way to do that.  And if you are looking for more summer concert fun check out Kristin’s summer concert series post where she highlights the many free options we have in Cincinnati.

If you are like most of us, you are always looking for fun ways to save money without sacrificing your waistline or style.  This Saturday, May 15th from 10am -3pm you will have an opportunity to mingle with some of the local blogging experts and pick up some new tips while having fun and supporting a great cause.

Locals on Living, an affiliate of the Cincinnati.Com network, and  community bloggers are getting together to share practical advice and answer your questions on how to save on the things you need to get the things you want.

The only cost is a canned good or other needed item to benefit the Freestore Foodbank. Everything else is FREE!!

The morning will begin with a panel of expert bloggers who will be open to your questions. There will be two breakout sessions where bloggers will share their expertise on topics such as health, saving money and fashion. Sessions will include:

• How to Pad Your Wallet Not Your Butt” Dr. Gary Huber of HealthyAlterEgo, will offer cheap & easy tips to get a healthy, vibrant and leaner body.
• “Heels and Steals” Amy Storer-Scalia of Chic This Week and Kasmira Kit, of  What I Wore Today, will show you how to freshen up your look for little or no cash.
• “List, Clip, Shop!” Andrea Deckard who is Mommy Snacks will show you how to use three unique strategies to help you drastically reduce your grocery budget.

There will be swag bags, drawings for baskets, food (do you need anything else) girlfriends and lots of fun, useful information.  Grab your ticket, a canned good and come on out to The Elements Conference and Event Centre in Sharonville located at 11974 Lebannon Road.

Photo compliments of James Fowee

It’s not Park City, but it’s great family fun less than an hour away.  This year I have returned to a favorite activity, and I am taking my family with me.  My husband and I actually met just before I was going on a trip out west to ski back in 1993 well let’s just say a while ago.  Our first date was snowed out because the roads and restaurants all closed, so he took me skiing (brilliant on his part) at Perfect North the following day.  After many years of enjoying, often more than one per year, ski vacations to amazing destinations out west, I got pregnant.  Initially I did not think this would keep me from the slopes but by the time ski season came it became clear I would not be able to ski, even the easier hills, with child.

Now that my darling daughters are 5 and 7, I thought it was a great time to introduce them to the sport that I missed so much and find out if they would like skiing as much as I did.  They loved sledding and playing in the snow, so we ventured out to Perfect North Slopes over winter break to go tubing, kind of a toe in the snow introduction to the mountain.  Well they loved it and quickly became smitten with the idea of coming back to ski.  Our first time out on the mountain was a Friday (Greg and I actually went out earlier in the day) afternoon and well into the night.  Greg met them at the bus and announced we were going skiing and they screamed with excitement.  They were at Perfect North by 4:30pm, geared up and in ski school by 5pm.  Perfect North offers ski lessons every hour on the hour and this year to celebrate their 30th year a beginner lesson is included with every lift pass.  Also included is snow tubing, so if you get tired or want to take a slide of a different kind you simply walk over to the tubing area, get a tube and take a slide or a few.

No matter how you price it, skiing is not a cheap activity though there are many options to choose from and if your family enjoys being active outdoors the value is great!  By far the best deal is to get season passes as go often during the season.  This is what our family will do next year.  One of the benefits of having season passes is that you can go out for a few hours at a time and not feel like you need to stay all day (which can be exhausting for children –even if they don’t want to leave) to get your money’s worth.

It’s best to buy your passes for next season at the end of this season, before summer to get the best price.  If you miss that, you can find a ski club to join and get great deals before mid-November.  The longer you wait to buy your passes the less you will save.  Perfect North’s website has everything you need to know and if you have questions, you can contact them by email for phone for a friendly response.  And for those of you who are socially connected you can find them on facebook or twitter and they have an iPhone app.

There is still plenty of time to catch an amazing Christmas Show for the entire family.  Awaited is the Christmas Story retold with a contemporary flair that is fun for all ages.  The show and music are fantastic and held the attention of children ages 4, 5 and 7 that were with us.  In fact, my children wanted to go back the next night so we did.   There is a free book available for children to take home and keep them engaged with the story following the show.  CDs of the music are also available (free) in the atrium and also online for download to your mp3 player.

The show is free and you can try and get tickets online.  If you don’t get tickets because the show is “sold out” have faith and come anyway.  As with anything, plans change and people don’t always turn in free tickets.  The first two shows were sold out and there were plenty of seats available for stand-bys after everyone was seated.  Come early (doors open and hour before the show) because much of the fun is pre-show in the atrium in a Main Street Theme complete with a train display, cookies, hot chocolate, family photos (I recommend going upstairs where you will find two more photographers for less of a line) and of course the standard Crossroads coffee.

You will not be asked for a donation nor will you be offered ANYTHING to purchase, which may not be your typical experience for a church performance and it’s true.  This is really a must see performance regardless of your religious affiliation.  Crossroads is a non-denominational Christian Church that welcomes all people regardless of your past or current beliefs.  Just come and enjoy!

Remaining Awaited Performance Schedule

• Dec. 19: 4 p.m and 7 p.m.
• Dec. 20: 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
• Dec. 21-22: 7 p.m.
• Dec. 23: 4 p.m and 7 p.m.
• Dec. 24: 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

While my husband and I enjoyed many Red’s games BK (before kids), our family hasn’t been to too many baseball games at Great American Ballpark. I can’t believe it’s been seven years since Great American Ballpark officially opened in 2003. Now that we are officially clear of the toddler years, it seemed like the right time to venture back; so last Wednesday night we took advantage of the glorious weather, found our red shirts and made the less than 10 minute drive downtown to cheer on baseball’s first major league baseball team.

For some reason I imagined it would cost way too much for a family of four to take in a baseball game. I remember the days when I could go to a game with $10 and have money left at the end of the evening. As it turns out, the family still can enjoy plenty of bargain entertainment and refreshments at Great American Ballpark. Tickets start at just $5. We had excellent seats (generously shared with us) for $32.

They even had Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash so you could wash your fruit before eating. The fruit stand saved us from the cotton candy and snow cone pleas. Don’t forget to bring or pick up bottled water outside the gate for only $1 and remember it has to remain sealed to be brought into the ballpark.

Before and after the game or when the children need a diversion, there is Fan Zone which is full of additional complimentary entertainment including concerts (at select games), interactive games like “Run it Out” which was great to expend excess energy from the kids and on Wednesday there was a Playstation truck with 10 stations for playing baseball or singing karaoke. It was fun watching our five year old rock out to “Our Song” by Taylor Swift.

We’ve always wanted to ride the boat that makes a splash as it literally drives into the Ohio River; so this summer we made it our just before school starts family fun activity and created a memory to last a long time. We came with a group of nine friends, family and neighbors. I was quite impressed that the youngest (5 years) and the oldest (85 years) members of the group had just as much fun as the rest of us and we all agreed it was well worth the admission price (which seemed a bit high before we took the trip.).

Ride the Ducks is the nation’s largest amphibious tour operator and amphibious vehicle manufacturer. Their mission is to “create memories worth repeating” ™ by offering guests an entertainment sightseeing experience that is fun, informative and engaging.

They certainly met that goal!  Located at the Newport on the Levee outside the Aquarium in the center of the entertainment complex, you can purchase tickets ($15 adults $11 children) at the souvenir shop or online before you arrive.  From there you board the boat at street level.  We were impressed with the customer service experience all along the way.  Before we boarded we were given “Wacky Quackers” which I can still hear quacking in my ears.

Our Captain and the narrator (Katie) were very professional and quite entertaining.  After a brief safety instruction they got right down to having fun.  We crossed the bridge and entered the river near the Showboat Majestic from the Public Landing adjacent to the Serpentine Wall.  The music was always fun and appropriate.  Katie was full of fun information about the city, that after living here for more than 19 years, was completely new and interesting.  Following a brief cruise down the river and learning interesting historical and fun facts about the cities on both sides of the river, the Captain took a break and allowed the kids (of all ages) drive the duck.  The tour concluded with a cruise through downtown Cincinnati where we made lots of noise, danced, made people on the street smile and learned more fun facts about the city.  Did you know the largest (by 12 inches) skyscraper in the city is under construction and it will be topped with a very large replica of Princess Diana’s tiara to crown the city as the Queen City.

Ride the Ducks Newport is a seasonal event and they expect to operate through mid-November.  The Duck cruises every day (with the exception of Sunday, September 6 due to the annual Riverfest celebration) almost hourly from 12noon -8pm and 11am on Saturday and the tour lasts less than an hour.  I highly recommend doing this before the season ends, its great fun.  For the price of a meal out, you can create a memory that will last way longer than the typical restaurant experience.